Monday, February 23, 2009

Back on the same page

Anyone worried by my earlier post pointing out the contradiction between President Obama's (tiny) tax cut and Governor Patrick's multiple tax hikes can relax. Having spent some time together today, the two pals are back on the same page. Unsurprisingly, that page reads: "Taxes are good." The topic of the article linked above is Obama's plan to raise taxes.

Here's the (ahem) money line:

Critics call it a tax increase that will hurt the economic recovery and is unfair to people already paying the lion's share of total taxes.

But asked about it on MSNBC, Patrick said Obama's plan would impose "a fair amount of taxes" on people who are relatively wealthy.

"Nobody is talking about taking that wealth away," Patrick, who is in Washington for a National Governors Association meeting, said from in front of the White House.

Whaaaa? I'm sitting here, trying to get inside the head of a guy who earnestly (Patrick is always earnest) believes that a tax increase does not "take wealth away" from the taxpayer. Here's the best I can come up with: taxes are often deducted - as from a paycheck - before the money is ever in the taxpayers' hands. By imposing higher taxes, the government isn't "taking that wealth away," it just isn't letting us have it in the first place. You can't miss what you never had, right Governor? Makes perfect sense.

Posted by
Dan

No comments:

Post a Comment

No spamming, flaming, cursing, or other such nonsense tolerated. Thanks for engaging on those terms - Greg

Subscribe To

Search This Blog

Critical Contact

Critical Disclaimer

The thoughts and opinions expressed on CriticalMASS are those of the writers only, and do not necessarily express the thoughts, opinions, positions or affiliations of their employers, families, friends, casual acquaintances, neighbors, classmates, pets, sidekicks, avatars, soul mates, nemeses, ancestors or descendants.